The measure requires authors of Washington state laws and agency rules
to use "people first" language when writing about people that have
disabilities.

"People first" language is a way of describing someone which puts the
person ahead of his or her label. Using "people first" language, for example,
an individual would be described as "a person with a disability" rather than "a
disabled person" or "the disabled". The terminology has been around nearly as
long as People First, a self-advocacy movement started by people with
developmental disabilities in the late 1970s.

The new law would not change language currently in the Washington
Administrative Code (WAC) or Revised Code of Washington (RCW), but would apply
when new laws are added or the old laws are revised. The measure specifically
calls on authors to avoid terms such as "disabled, developmentally disabled,
mentally disabled, mentally ill, mentally retarded, handicapped, cripple, and
crippled".

The state House of Representatives had voted 95-0 in support of the
measure on February 12.

The law signals a victory for disability rights advocates, dozens of
whom personally lobbied for its passage. Some felt the new language was needed
to reflect changes in how society views people with disabilities.

"Well, this isn't the 1940s," Resa Hayes, a 14-year member of the
self-advocacy organization People First of Washington, told me. Hayes testified
before the Legislature for the bill's passage.

"People with disabilities are people first -- everything else is
secondary," she said, echoing the organization's motto.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Thomas Shapley wrote about the
Respectful Language Bill and how it was nearly kept from going to the Senate
floor for a vote.